Dateline: January 19, 2006

City sales tax receipts start year on high note

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Strong sales continue to produce higher tax receipts for the City of Clarendon this month as Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn reported her monthly figures last week.

Clarendon finished calendar year 2005 more than nine percent ahead of 2004, and it has started this year with another significant increase. The city’s January rebate totals $22,976.97, which is 14.57 percent higher than the city’s rebate for January 2005.

Hedley’s rebate also increased from $316.51 in January 2005 to $574.06 this month, but Howardwick’s rebate of $832.95 represented an 8.05 percent drop.

Strayhorn said the state collected $1.57 billion in sales tax revenue statewide in December, up 15.9 percent compared to December 2004.

December state sales tax collections and January allocations to local governments represent sales that occurred in November. The late-November kickoff of holiday shopping gave sales tax revenue a boost, and purchases related to Southeast Texas’ continuing recovery from Hurricane Rita continue to contribute to sales tax revenues.

“In the 22 Southeast Texas disaster counties, local sales tax revenues are up 38 percent, overall, compared to a year ago,” Strayhorn said. “Examples of Southeast Texas cities whose January sales tax allocations are up dramatically compared to January 2005 include Beaumont, up 64.4 percent, Port Arthur, up 43.3 percent and Orange, up 96.9 percent.”

Strayhorn sent January sales tax allocations of $260.2 million to Texas cities, up 16.6 percent compared to January 2005.